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Trust – Leading by Example

Are you willing to be vulnerable?

Summary

Transcript

Are you willing to be vulnerable? Patrick Lencioni, founder and president of The Table Group, shares the importance of having enough trust in your team to be vulnerable with them, and vice versa. The only way we can do that is if the leader goes first. It may be uncomfortable at times, but it is a crucial step to leading a strong team and ensuring that the people around you see your humanity.

Watch the video to learn more about trusting your team members.

So we have to get our teams vulnerable. We have to. It's one of the most important things. But here's the deal. The only way we can do that is if the leader goes first. You see, the leader has to be the one that strips down and dives into that pool naked before anybody else will. It's a leap of faith, folks. And it's not comfortable. It's not. As Andy said, "There's that moment when we're in over our heads and we've got to do it anyway." Now, some people will say, "But Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat. What about that old saying 'don't let them see you sweat'?" People say that if you're a leader don't let them see you sweat. You know something? People see us sweating before we realize we're sweating. You know what the best leaders do? They're the ones that go, "Check this out." Because you go, you know. That's what we want as a leader who knows himself. Other people will say, "But Pat, you don't want to be too vulnerable, do you? I mean, you've got to be careful." You see, I don't think you can be too vulnerable. I suppose if you come to work every day and you go, "Hey, made a mistake, made another one, don't know what I'm doing there, whoops, screwed that one up too," I think that's a competence problem, not a vulnerability problem. The truth is, people will walk through walls of fire for a leader who's true and human. They want to know that we know our humanity.